Rhopoint Novo-Gloss Trigloss 20 60 85 degree Gloss Meters

Product Description

The Rhopoint Novo-Gloss Trigloss 20 60 85 degree Gloss Meters are designed to meet the measurement criteria for most gloss measuring applications. Small, lightweight and durable these instruments can be used in the most demanding environments. The high specifications, including statistical analysis, graphical analysis and software-free PC down load facility make it the ideal choice for general gloss measurements.

Gloss is an aspect of the visual perception of objects that is as important as colour when considering the psychological impact of products on a consumer. It has been defined as ‘The attribute of surfaces that causes them to have shiny or lustrous, metallic appearance.’ The gloss of a surface can be greatly influenced by a number of factors, for example the smoothness achieved during polishing, the amount and type of coating applied or the quality of the substrate. Manufacturers design their products to have maximum appeal: highly reflective car body panels, gloss magazine covers or satin black designer furniture.

It is important therefore that gloss levels are achieved consistently on every product or across different batches of products. Gloss can also be a measure of the quality of the surface, for instance a drop in the gloss of a coated surface may indicate problems with its cure, leading to other failures such as poor adhesion or lack of protection for the coated surface. It is for these reasons that many manufacturing industries monitor the gloss of their products, from cars, printing and furniture to food, pharmaceuticals and consumer electronics.

How is Gloss Measured?

Gloss is measured by shining a known amount of light at a surface and quantifying the reflectance. The angle of the light and the method by which the reflectance is measured are determined by surface and also aspect of the surface appearance to be measured.

Which Angle should I use for my application?

ISO 2813 and ASTM D523 (the most commonly used standards) describe three measurement angles to measure gloss across all surfaces.

Gloss is measured in gloss units (GU) and is traceable to reference standards held at BAM (Germany), NRC (Canada) or NPL (UK).

Universal Measurement Angle: 60°

The Novo-Gloss 60 is perfect for basic gloss measurement and is best suited for mid gloss surfaces (10-70GU @60°).
All gloss levels can be measured using the standard measurement angle of 60°. This is used as the reference angle with the complimentary angles of 85° and 20° often used for low and high gloss levels respectively.

60° is referred to as the universal measurement angle and is the most commonly specified geometry in applications such as paints, coatings, plastics, automotive interiors and general manufacturing.

It can be used as a basic gloss assessment for any surface from matt surfaces to mirror finish polished metals.
Small light and portable, with onboard statistics and the ability to download reading to Novo-Soft, the 60° instrument is perfect for factory, outdoor or laboratory applications.

Low Gloss: 85°

Whilst adequate for some applications, the 60° geometry has low measurement resolution at gloss levels <10GU. This means that two matt surfaces which have visually different surfaces may have minimal differences in values when measured using this geometry. For improved resolution of low gloss a grazing angle of 85° is used to measure the surface. This angle is recommended for surfaces which measure less than 10GU when measured at 60º. This angle also has a larger measurement spot which will average out differences in the gloss of textured or slightly uneven surfaces.

For matt surfaces (<10GU @60°) an instrument with the 85° geometry should be used 20°/60°/85° Trigloss or Rhopoint IQ 20°/60°/85°.

High Gloss: 20°

A limitation of the 60° geometry is that it is has almost no sensitivity to surface effects such as haze and visible textures such as orange peel. When present these effects will reduce the visual quality of high gloss surfaces but will have little or no effect on measured 60° gloss values.

For high gloss surfaces (gloss >70 GU), an instrument that includes the 20° angle should be specified – Novo-Gloss Dualgloss 20/60°, Novo-Gloss Trigloss 20/60/85°. The 20° geometry has limited sensitivity to reflection Haze.

The acute measurement angle of 20° gives improved resolution for high gloss surfaces. The 20° angle is more sensitive to haze effects that affect the appearance of a surface. To quantify haze, distinctness of image, reflected image quality and other surface texturing please consider the Rhopoint IQ.